The Battle of Palm Sunday, 1427

The Battle of Palm Sunday, also known as the Massacre of Palm Sunday, was a violent and tragic clan battle that took place in 1429 in the Scottish Highlands. The conflict was between the Clan Cameron and the confederation of Clan Chattan, and it is mentioned in several historical accounts such as Walter Bower’s Scotichronicon, John Major’s History of Greater Britain, and George Buchanan’s History of Scotland, Rerum Scoticarum Historia.

According to these accounts, the background of the battle was that the Clan Cameron and Clan Chattan had both deserted Alexander of Islay, Earl of Ross, and had attached themselves to the king. However, on Palm Sunday, the Clan Chattan attack the Clan Cameron while they were worshiping in a church, and many members of both clans were killed in the ensuing battle.

There are differing accounts of the specifics of the battle, but it is generally agreed that it was a violent and tragic event that had a significant impact on both the Clan Cameron and Clan Chattan. Some sources state that the Clan Mackintosh, who were leaders of the Chattan Confederation, led the attack on the Clan Cameron, and that many of the Mackintoshes and almost all of the Camerons were slain. Other sources suggest that almost the whole tribe of Camerons was “cut to pieces” in the battle, and that most of the Mackintoshes were also killed.

It is not clear what the immediate consequences of the Battle of Palm Sunday were, but it is likely that the conflict had a lasting impact on the relationships between the Clan Cameron and Clan Chattan. The root of the feud between these two clans seems to go back to at least 1336, when the rights to the lands of Glenlui and Locharkaig in Lochaber were contested, and it is possible that the Battle of Palm Sunday exacerbated existing tensions and contributed to further conflicts between the two clans.